Because history usually takes the most surreal, ironic path possible, I could see a near future — after some sort of civil war / revolution — where what we call the “NeverTrump” movement might be ascendant.
I say that because, in general, the United States is a center-Right nation with center-Left aspirations. As such, if political gravity violently snapped back into place because of a Blue victory in a second civil war / revolution, then there would probably be a lot of popularity for conservatives who opposed Trump.
Of course, in the more near term, I wonder what strange, surreal political situations we might find ourselves in if there was some sort of major confrontation on the border between Texas and the Feds. If the two sides started shooting at each other, then…oh boy.
It’s possible that there MIGHT be a secession crisis and a lot of MAGA Republicans would have to make a decision as to how much they really were in Trump’s pocket and how loyal they remained to the Union. All of this would only increase the power of the existing NeverTrump movement.
If — and this may be a huge if — IF Blues win any civil war / revolution that might happen because of ding-dong Trump, then for a little while, at least, NeverTrumpers might be the catbird’s seat politically.
I continue to grow more and more impressed with how passionate and articulate the #NeverTrump members are. They’re not perfect. In fact, some of those associated with The Lincoln Project have done some pretty sketchy things.
But, the thing about the prominent #NeverTrumpers is they have principles and guts. And a lot of them are born leaders who will definitely rise to the occasion should the dead hand of history decides to give them the opportunity to do so.
They could very well save the Union.
Now, given the radical forces — both Leftist and fascist — that any actual civil war would unleash, the fact that rock solid conservatives would be in charge of saving the Union (or at least the Blue State part of it) will probably lead to some pretty surreal political events.
So, in a sense, it would be if instead of Lincoln during the Civil War, it was a War Democrat.
Anyway, for #NeverTrumpers to be given the opportunity to lead Blue States, things would have gotten pretty fucking bad. The most logical way this would happen would be Blue States leave the Union when Red States simply nullify a Biden re-election in Congress and the country buckles.
If something like that happened, then be prepared for some pretty dramatic, and radical, events to take place in the United States very, very quickly. The moment the inevitable happens and WMD are used domestically, ooooh by.
If we slip peacefully into autocracy, then all the #NeverTrumpers will gradually be exiled, imprisoned or worse. Far Worse.
The #NeverTrump people are what I like to call “radical moderates.” You can quibble about how “moderate” they really are relative to the Left-Right divide before Trump, but #NeverTrump goals are pretty moderate in my opinion. They want simply to protect our liberal democracy at any costs.
Abraham Lincoln, Radical Moderate
In a sense, they really do harken back to Lincoln. Father Abraham was the quintessential radical moderate. At his heart, he was pretty moderate, but in the severe crisis of the Civil War he made a very radical choice out of desperation: free the slaves so as to make the war one of liberation and Union, not just Union.
As such, because the United States is hurdling towards an existential choice of autocracy, military junta or civil war, it’s at least possible that for a moment in time everyone will be #NeverTrump — there will be a United Front with the leaders of the #NeverTrump at its head.
Should it happen, it will be astonishing on a political level because such a unification of political views has only happened one or twice in our history. I would say the Civil War and WW2 are the last times it happened. For AOC to join forces with someone as conservative as, say, Rick Wilson, under “radical moderate” rubric we would have to be suffering a very, very severe political crisis.
Now, as an aside, let me address something I’ve mentioned before – are #NeverTrumpers the modern equivalent of “War Democrats?” At the moment, they are. But the moment we’re facing the type of severe political crisis I fear we’re hurdling towards occurs, they will be something totally different — the vanguard of the the radical moderates.
In other words, the leadership of the people who will have the opportunity to finally destroy the scourge of the fascist MAGA New Right will come from the group of conservatives who are now #NeverTrumpers. The center-Left simply does not have that many leaders to use for such a cause. AOC is pretty good, but she’s still too young and untested.
I can think of half a dozen #NeverTrumpers who could provide crucial leadership for the — glup — war effort, should things get that bad.
Or, put another way, if the crisis grows as severe as I fear it will, instead of the current political situation where you have a huge center-Left then the #NeverTrumpers, you would have a United Front with the #NeverTrumpers providing the leadership.
But all of this is extremely speculative. I’m always wrong, at least to date. I’m just kind of sketching out possibilities given what usually happens in revolutions and civil wars
Say what you will about the #NeverTrump movement, they definitely have principles. And, I think, that’s what makes #NeverTrump groups like The Lincoln Project so appealing to liberals. NeverTrumpers are so principled, articulate and passionate about how much they fucking hate Trump that they sometimes outshine liberal leadership on the subject. (I find the vast majority of liberal leadership rather timid and tepid, at best.)
Now, I have to note — the existence of the #NeverTrump movement has a spooky similarity to the War Democrats of the Civil War. So, in a sense, history is repeating itself, which does not bode well for the long-term political stability of the United States.
In fact, it’s not too difficult to imagine a situation during a Second American Civil War where President AOC picks a NeverTrumper as her veep in an effort to unite the country, or something.
That sounds rather fantastical — it is — but it is at least within the realm of possibility, the way things are going.
I guess what I’m saying is, NeverTrumpers could balloon in political significance should Blue States find themselves actively trying to destroy the Republican Party. I mean, a liberal democracy needs some sort of conservative party if it’s going to be a…functioning liberal democracy.
If there is a Second American Civil War and the “Good Guys” — read, people like me — win, NeverTrumpers would be the core of any new conservative party, for better or worse.
We really need to destroy the Republican Party, by the way. It’s gone septic and its very existence as an organization is an existential threat to our democracy.
Let me be absolutely clear about a few things — 1) no one listens to me. 2) I’m a man of peace, but I’m also a man of ideas.
As such, I hate violence and I hate conflict. But in extreme cases, such as what’s going on with the fetid rotting pond scum known as the Trump Administration, I willing to engage in, if nothing else, a little bit of ideological wargaming.
What I mean by that is, I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but fuck, man, we have to do something about the Trump Administration and telling me to “wait for Mueller” or “wait for 2020” just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Thus, from a strategic standpoint, if we want to radicalize (at least a little bit) the fortress of married “purple” soccer moms in the exburbs of Philadelphia, we could do a lot worse than getting #NeverTrump intellectuals such as George Will (and others) to become the Tom Paynes of the Radical Resistance. We need them to articulate the very specific, very simple –and yet right now extremely provocative — demands of the Radical Resistance in a calm, cogent manner that won’t freak otherwise pretty placid centrist-liberals out.
It’s going to take everything the Radical Resistance has (which of this writing is just me, like, talking to myself on a blog no one reads) to simply get the basic demand of impeachment hearings begun in the House. I honestly don’t see simply being a wee bit more urgent when it comes to scheduling House hearings of the Trump Administrations high crimes and general fuckery too be too much to ask.
Why is it that Republicans when they controlled the House got to conspicuously stroke the base when it came to impeaching Obama for bullshit, but when we have massive amounts of un-Constitutional bullshit going on under the Trump Adminstration…nothing. Crickets. We have to wait until Feb. 7th until Michael Cohen testifies and even then the way things are going, Trump may get his wish and scare Cohen off from testifying in the first place.
So, it seems extremely urgent to get people such as George Will to wade into the rhetorical waters of Radical Resistance. Yes, I know Trump long ago lost most of the American intelligentsia, but I’m not really seeing the Howard Beal moments I’ve long been hoping for. The blue check podcasters of Twitter talk a good talk, but they aren’t, like, on TV demanding impeachment proceedings every time they are on TV or on a podcast. If we could get that to happen — why I’m saying “we” when it’s just “me,” I don’t know. I guess it makes me feel better.
I really respect the intellect of the #NeverTrumpers and if they could throw a few rhetorical bombs now and again maybe, just maybe, this Trump nightmare might end sooner rather than later with impeachment…and conviction.
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